In a message dated 11/11/0 8:50:09 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
<< I am doing a presentation to a group of childbirth edcuators tomorrow.
They all very enthusiatically support Breastfeeding. I would like to be
able to give them a list of all the professional organizations that
endorse breastfeeding. Please email me at [log in to unmask] TIA. >>
Every year, I teach a bf workshop for midwifery students who all "very
enthusiastically" support bf. And they really do, within the context of what
they believe this to mean. Today, many more midwifery students than in the
past are young women w/o children, for whom bf is a theoretical probability,
thus they have many of the same myths as the general population. I spend a
large amount of time teaching them about their role in protecting normal bf.
I would suggest telling these childbirth educators that to very
enthusiastically support bf means to educate women about normal birth, which
does not include inductions, "augmentation of labor", "management of labor",
"coaching" of mothers in labor, epidurals, vacuum extractions, forceps,
cesareans, drugs and on and on and on. we cannot support bf as a theory and
then undermine it in every way possible. Childbirth educators are in an
important position to really serve the needs of mothers and babies, but so
often they serve the status quo or the hospital that employs them. In my
experience, the most pro-bf childbirth educators are those who are also LLL
Leaders, LC's or have bf normally themselves. Those who have the
anesthesiologist come in to describe epidurals do not support normal birth.
IMO, this is akin to having the formula rep come in to discuss AIM, just in
case.
What I am saying is that you may know these educators very well and they
really support bf, or they may just support it the way most HCP's do--in
theory. In which case, you may be able to change the situation for the better.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
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